Live Episode! OtterBox: Curt Richardson

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2019

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1980s and 90s, Curt Richardson started making simple plastic boxes in his garage in Fort Collins, Colorado. They were originally designed to keep small items dry while you're fishing or skiing, and Curt and his wife Nancy called them "Otter Boxes." But after the launch of the Blackberry and the iPod, Curt started tailoring the boxes to fit and protect the breakable devices – and OtterBox evolved from an outdoor goods supplier into a company tightly adhered to the tech industry. With the rise of smartphones, Otter Products grew by more than 1000% in just five years. Today, it controls a massive share of the phone case market and sells more than $1 billion in cases each year. This interview was recorded live at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:30.0	This is a great story, so I remember being at CES and...
0:34.0	In Las Vegas.
0:35.0	In Vegas.
0:36.0	And Michael Cowan, who was the head guy for stuff at AT&T, came by and showed him the case and he said,
0:45.0	well, how much is it?
0:46.0	I said, well, it retails for $49.95.
0:48.0	It's like you're crazy. $49.95?
0:50.0	Wait, you can't buy a case for all the cases.
0:52.0	These were like $5.
0:53.0	It's nuts.
0:54.0	Yeah.
0:55.0	So he said, but we'll do a test.
0:57.0	So they did a test, and they were going to do a three-month test.
1:01.0	Well, I think they did a three-day test, because they all sold out.
1:04.0	Wow.
1:05.0	They sold like crazy.
	...

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